Various designs of emergency exits exist to allow occupants to escape from upper floors of buildings when an emergency, such as a fire, arises. These known emergency exits include crash doors, exterior staircases and extensible ladders. Generally, fire doors and exits are both clearly marked by signs and contain crash handles to allow a simple, understandable escape from a building. They provide security from intruders and a one step release to eliminate confusion or complicated hardware to unlock and open.
While the emergency exits described above are sufficient for escape from the upper and main floors of a building, they are not capable of providing a safe exit from a basement, or below grade, dwelling. Basement apartments, or living areas, have enjoyed a strong increase in most large urban centers in recent years. Typically, basement apartments are built within previously existing houses. Generally, access to the apartment is from an upper floor, by way of an interior staircase. Most apartments, especially those crated within a pre-existing basement, tend to have relatively small windows located high on the wall, nearly at the ceiling.
As is known, exposure to smoke caused by a fire is the most common cause of death and injury to occupants and firefighters. Standard fire safety necessitates that a person stay as low to the floor as possible in a fire to avoid being overcome by the smoke. It is also generally accepted that fire and smoke are disorienting and panic-inducing. Therefore, emergency exits need to be as simple as possible to operate and find. Basement apartments do not, generally, include an emergency exit. It is necessary for occupants faced with a fire, or other emergency, to either exit the building by ascending the staircase to an upper floor, or to access a basement window, unlock, remove or otherwise open the window and then crawl upwards out of the small opening provided. As is apparent, such prior art basement emergency exits expose an occupant to life threatening and unnecessary risks. The occupant must stand at the window to unlock and open the existing windows thereby exposing themselves to high heat and choking smoke conditions which would quickly disable and disorient the occupant and thus endanger their opportunity for escape.
The present inventors are not currently aware of any device which permits an occupant of a basement apartment to easily and reliably open a basement window area from the floor level where the occupant's best conditions for survival exist. Canadian Patent No. 1,116,571, entitled Basement Emergency Exit, provides a set of steps folded flat against a wall. To operate the exit, a tread is grabbed, thereby unfolding the steps. A complicated hinge mechanism simultaneously unlatches a window above the steps, and opens it outwards. The drawbacks of this device include the complexity of the mechanism automatically opening the window, the necessity to ensure that the window is in good operating condition, for example, ensuring that it has not been painted shut, the provision of a number of steps flush against the wall, which can be more difficult to climb than a sloped ladder or regular staircase, and the possibility that the window opening outwardly will be obstructed by snow or some object placed outside the window, thus blocking the exit.